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A New User's Guide to Hedge
The following is a short, informative guide designed to help introduce prospective new users to the Hedge community. If you have further questions, or need clarification on anything described below, please do not hesitate to reach out to to any of the Staff. Helping is what we're here for~! Quick Links: Rules - Staff Welcome to Hedgerow Hollow! Hedgerow: A hedge of wild shrubs and trees, typically bordering a road or field. Hollow: A low, wooded area, such as a copse. If you're reading this, let me be the first to welcome you to the Hedgerow Hollow Community - Hedgebox or just Hedge, for short! While the community's original roots were in another cbox, we've existed as a seperate entity since 2014, with a focus on meaningful, story-driven roleplay and friendship. We're always looking to expand both our roleplay world and our connections, so if you're interested in potentially joining us, we'd love to have you! We're a very welcoming community and look forward to getting to know you and your characters. Keep reading to learn more about us~! About Hedgerow Hollow The World The Monté Region Hedge is primarily centered around character and story-driven Pokémon RP, but is not exclusively ''for Pokémon RP (see the following subsection). The 'Hedgelands', where the majority of roleplay takes place - an area encompassing a mysterious forest known as Firelight, a villa known as Dearbelle Town, and a small city known as Verdigris City, which are all situated about the shores of a large body of water, Lake Déchaverte - is part of a larger Region named Monté, which is located slightly north of the Unova Region in the larger Pokémon World. Like all Pokémon Regions, Monté is based on a real-world place - in this case, the northern half of the US state Vermont. The Hedgelands, and Monté as a whole, are mutable to some degree by players - as long as it's realistic, makes geographic sense, and is not disruptive to other players and the world at large, landmarks and structures can be added as needed. Your pokémon explores a cave no other player has been in before? We'll add it to the next map update! Your Trainer builds a small cabin or pitches a campsite? We'll add that, too! Because Monté is part of the Pokémon World, many of the places and people we know and love from canonical sources exist here, as well. Many of our Trainer characters, and some pokémon, originally come from locales such as Kanto, Sinnoh and Alola, and some of their faces will be familiar ones to you. You are free to play as both OCs - original characters - or as canonical characters from the Pokémon World; the primary restrictions on the latter are that you not choose a character that someone is already playing, and that you acknowledge the passage of time, as Hedge is a real-time setting and your character of choice is likely to be older here than in their canonical depections (click the links above for further details on playing as pokémon, OCs or as canon characters). We are not like DND and do not require character sheets, etc, to be filled out before you can play - all that is required to jump in is to register your character's name on the cbox and give them an avatar. That's it! More details on how to register, and initinate or enter RPs, will follow in later sections. Non-Pokémon RP "But what if I don't ''want to play in the Pokémon World?" I hear you asking. Or "I like Pokémon RP, but sometimes I'd like to take a break and do something different." That's totally okay! While some of our users are only looking for Pokémon-themed play, we have others who would absolutely enjoy dipping their toes in other settings, and you are free to do this if you so please. Of course, when the RP setting belongs to you, you're the one making its rules - the flavor of the world, the species that live there, etc is at your discretion. And if you'd rather play in someone else's non-Pokémon world rather than invent your own, we do have a pre-existing alternate setting, in the guise of the twin worlds of Nexus and Subquis. Just ask if you'd like to visit there! Most RPs are set in Monté and the primary Pokémon-themed world by default, but if you want to do an RP set in another world (one of your own creation, a pre-existing one from Hedge, or a pre-existing world from other media), all you have to do is ask other players if they'd be interested in doing a campaign, or even just some slice-of-life scenes, in this alternate setting. These RPs would be considered entirely seperate from the "main" Monté campaign with no crossover, and would form their own continunity. "But what if I want to be part of Monté like everyone else, but not as a human or a pokémon? What if I'm an alien/a transdimensional visitor/etc?" This is ''allowed, so don't worry; we have multiple characters in the main campaign whose origins do not lie on the Pokémon Planet (even including some that actually ''are humans and pokémon!). All that is asked is that such "outside visitors" respect the rules of the world they're residing in, and not be disruptive to its intregrity. Don't do anything that would make NPCs or the world at large aware of your existence/nature as a being alien to this planet/dimension/universe, and it'll all be good <3 The Hedge Experience The Community We currently have a userbase of about eight to ten active members, with several more who flit in occasionally, but are not daily users. Currently, roleplays do not usually occur on a daily basis (so do not be discouraged if you arrive and no one plays with you - it might take a little time for someone to hop online who's in the mood to play and free to engage), and oftentimes they will not conclude in a single session, needing to pause until both players becoem available again. Chitchat unrelated to roleplay, and general socializing, are common, but these will stop once a roleplay begins, to not distract or disrupt the players. Long periods of silence are also frequent, when users are asleep, or attending work or school. Don't be offended if no one replies to you - there may simply not be anyone around yet. When roleplay does occur, it can fall into one of several different styles: * Noncanonical. Noncanon RP can usually be detected by its very causal style (short, quick posts) and oftentimes goofy tone - the users are just having fun, without concern for ongoing story. * Casual. Virtually all noncanonical RP is casual, but not all casual RP is noncanon. Casual RPs tend to be fairly simple in tone and length, without about a few sentences up to a paragraph per post, and tend to cover more mundane day-to-day scenes such as light conversations, characters at play, small events such as parties, and so on. These are "chill" RPs for when one doesn't want to do a big scene, but still wants to play. * Hardcore-lite. These are RPs that usually deal with headier thematic material than the casual RPs, with post lengths of about a paragraph or so (or shorter, sometimes). They are almost always canonical, and can be either "plotty" or "slice of life" in tone. * Hardcore. These are the most complex roleplays, with multiple paragraphs per post (ie, "textwalls"). They are virtually always canonical, and like their slimmer cousins, they can run the full gamut of thematic material, from slice of life all the way to action-packed plot. While it's common for users to favor a certain style - casual, hardcore-lite, hardcore or even noncanon - many users can adapt their style down to fit that of their partner, and most hardcore-lite/hardcore style players do not expect their parters to adapt up and match their post length if they end up getting a bit wordy. Remember that it is quality and not quanity of one's words that matters the most in a roleplay. If you prefer writing smaller posts, don't feel imtimidated by the textwallers, or like you don't fit in with such people, or that you have ''to match their word count when playing together. There are no cliques here, and everyone is eager to play with and include everyone else. Everyone should feel comfortable and welcome, whether you like to RP in paragraphs or sentences. What matters is the effort and passion you bring to the game. <3 Starting RP If you're not sure how to jump in, that's okay - if you'd feel more comfortable ''watching ''people play before playing yourself, that's more than acceptable. If you're here reading this page, it's likely that you were invited to Hedge by a friend who is an active member here - if you're shy about speaking to others, your invitee is of course a great resource in asking any questions about the roleplay you're watching - who the characters are, who the players are, etc. If you're intimidated by what you're viewing, your invitee, or a member of Staff, may be able to help - we ''want '' an environment where you will be comfortable and feel welcome among us; new users are as much a part of our community as old. Once you feel ready to introduce yourself - or if you think you're ready right off the bat - you can register an account according to the directions above. If the name you chose is already in use and you cannot register it, please let someone in Staff know, either directly or via your invitee - provided the name is not that of an active character, in which case you'll have to choose a different name, we can wipe the old account and free the name up for your use. Since you're likely still getting a feel for your character and for the community, it's best to try with a small "starter" post, featuring your character entering the forest, or something like this, that leaves them open for approach by others. If you want to respond to another character's post, it's polite to ask them first if the RP is "free" or "reserved", and if it's free. you're clear to join in! Focus on ''fun ''above all else - do not concern yourself with post length, or "quality", or worrying that other users are "better" than you. No one is better than anyone here, and all contributions add to the richness of the world and the community that built it. And don't be intimidated by continunity, or references to characters or events or worldbuilding elements you don't yet understand. Many players will automatically tone this down with new users, or explain a little context within the post itself; the longer you play, the more the world will start to become clear. Most users will read the roleplays of others, as well, as they are still canon and are still relevant to the overall world - and it's not infrequent for events done with your character, or your character's name, to be mentioned in an RP with different people. Be proud when that happens, it means you're part of canon now~! <3 Why Should I Join Hedge? * '''Because it's a great sandbox!' Whether you want to visit the Monté Region and try out OCs, familiar faces, or strange beings meeting and clashing and bonding together in the World of Pokémon, explore a strange world, or create your own sandbox altogether and invite others to play in it as they wish, the player is free to experimenta and explore, playing as they like. * Because we're nice! I promise~! We're a lively, friendly, welcoming environment for new or old RPers alike, and when there's no RP, we're often open for chatter and socializing. In fact, we even have a Discord (ask Staff for an invite) if you like the social aspect as much as the roleplay aspect. * Because we're tiny and we'd really really like to have some new people to liven things up? ...Please, we're really desperate D: Thanks so much for reading, and we hope to see you in Hedge! Category:Meta Category:HedgerowHollow